For a Moment
by Ginny-the-Werewolf
Summary: The War is over, and Fred has just been buried. Ginny finds herself outside, next to the Burrow, when it starts to rain. With the rain, she remembers a time when she and Fred were younger, and reunites with Harry at last.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, sadly enough.

A/N: This is - again - written for a HPFF challenge. I love those, I do! :p Well, this is a late birthday present for Harry, and an early one for Ginny. Yay! I'm pretty sure that's it. So, enjoy!

**For a Moment**

Ginny sat against the outside wall of the Burrow. Outside, in the Burrow's yard where she sat, the sky was a grey overcast. With knees pulled to her chest, she hugged herself, her hands clasped at her shins as memories of Fred assaulted her mind. Fred, they had just buried him today, an hour ago. Her dad, with tearful eyes, had supported her mum inside the house. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy, George, Ron, Hermione, and Harry all went inside, they too mourning.

Harry and Percy's faces had been twisted in guilt. George had stayed behind, staring at Fred's bleak grave, deadly still. His eyes told unspoken words of how lost he was without his twin, overcome with sadness. He had walked into the Burrow, silent tears slipping down his face. Ginny was sure he had gone straight to his room, not willing to be around the other's mourning, wishing to be alone. Though, she didn't know how he would deal with the palpable presence of Fred that would certainly linger there.

And Ginny, well she opted to stay outside. The idea of being cooped up inside gave her a claustrophobic feeling, when they had just buried Fred so recently. She sighed, willing the images of Fred to go away. The thought that she had one less brother seemed to haunt her. She had always had six brothers, _six_, and now there were only five. She squeezed her eyes shut as they burned with the familiar sensation of tears but she wasn't able to stop a single tear from falling down her face, then another, and another.

She couldn't stop the torrent of tears, and bit back sobs as she pressed her face into her knees. The last few days had been so surreal. She had just been moving through them, not feeling anything. She had been numb to the pain of losing her brother, after the shock had worn away. She hadn't said nor felt much anything. She replied with one or two words when spoken to and never started a conversation. It was as if all her grief had been settling in her stomach, just waiting for Fred's funeral, the day it would all become real, the day it could rise up like bile, and the emotions she hadn't felt would become unbearable.

Now, all her deadened emotions were alive and strong, and the loss and pain was overwhelming. She silently shook, still cradling herself. She felt something wet hit the top of her head and looked up, only to have another drop, then again another fall onto her head. Glancing around, she realized it was the rain; it was _raining_. Rubbing the tracks of tears off her face, she licked her dry lips and tasted the saltiness of tears that had fallen there, trying to regain her composure.

She cautiously stood, testing her legs, which were shaky from sitting as she had for so long. The rain was steadily growing harder, and she stepped away from the side of the house, more directly into the downpour.

As Ginny walked, her hair quickly became drenched in the rainwater, and stuck to her face, much same with her clothes. When she reached the middle of the yard, she looked around. There was the large oak tree, next to the Burrow's small pond. Not to far from that, were more trees and a small garden. The garden had always been Ginny's garden, where her mum had taught her to plant and care for flowers which they planted together when she had been younger.

Near that was the cemetery, where they had buried any of the pets that had died. Her mum had had a cat when she went to Hogwarts which was buried there.

Ginny slowly turned in a circle, spotting all these places one by one. There, a small way away from the little cemetery was Fred's grave, at the base of a tree, the mound of dirt still fresh and new. She glanced away quickly, not wanting the memories to come back again. And finally, was the Burrow. She was facing the side of the Burrow, the right side. Facing front again, so she had turned completely, there was a small dirt path which led to the front yard…

She slipped off the black heeled shoes she had been wearing. They were tight on her feet so freeing them felt better. Ginny smiled as she felt the lush, green grass that was wet with rain tickle her feet. She had always loved going outside when it rained, feeling the rain hit her skin, and the moist grass poke at her feet.

As the smile on her face grew slightly wider, she held her arms out wide and spun in the now pouring rain. Her soaked hair hit her face with each spin; she could feel small water droplets flying off her sodden clothes, into the rain, but she could care less. This, spinning in the rain, felt so _good_. For the first time in so long, she felt free, no worries, or waiting to hear if something horrid had happened, or if someone she loved died, no cares. Nothing mattered.

And for a moment, everything was different. The war had been won, yes, but Fred, Remus, Tonks, and countless others, hadn't died. Or better yet, there never had even been a war. For a moment, it was like when she was younger, when she would spin and laugh in the rain, completely carefree. And just maybe, like when she was young, Fred would come out and tease her about being outside in the pouring rain. Just for a moment…

"It's raining, you know," a voice from behind her commented.

"Fred!" she gasped, spinning around, her hair slapping her face. For a moment she believed that Fred was still alive, things were different.

Then she saw who it was standing these, in the middle of the yard, a few feet away from her. It all came crashing back… the reality of what had happened. She stood there, her arms hanging limply at her sides, hair plastered to her face as rain drops fell from it, mouth slightly agape, and her cheeks rapidly flushing.

"Er… no, it's Harry," he said awkwardly.

Nodding, she muttered, "Right, sorry." She couldn't bring herself to look directly at him.

He shrugged, shuffling his feet. "It's alright; I guess… Well, I guess I know how you feel, in a way."

Her first response would be to immediately assume that he had no idea what she felt, but she stopped herself in time. Harry probably would understand what she was going through, maybe better than most others. He had, after all, lost many people he cared about so much. She may have lost her own brother, but Harry had probably lost more than anyone else in the War. Looking at him standing there so uneasily, she vowed that he wouldn't lose her too, and she didn't mean by death.

"Yeah, I suppose you do," she said, meeting his eyes for the first time.

He gave her a tentative smile, and she returned it with one of her own.

Harry walked slowly forward to her, and after a moment's hesitation, grabbed her hands in his own. They stood, their bodies a foot apart, as it rained heavily down upon them. Neither said anything, but the growing silence wasn't uncomfortable. Harry became steadily wetter from the rain; his hair stuck to his forehead and covered his scar.

"I'm sorry," Harry finally spoke, breaking the quiet. "For Fred," he clarified.

Ginny looked up into his emerald eyes, which held traces of guilt, from behind his rain-splattered glasses. "Harry, please, don't apologise. Fred's death wasn't your fault."

He sighed, "But not just for Fred, I mean… I left you last year, and you deserve an explanation, and-"

Ginny shook her head, speaking across him. "Harry, I knew you had to leave me, and yes I do deserve an explanation, but not until you're ready, and not right now. And I don't want to talk about F-Fred right now either. It's just… I'm just… not ready?" she finished, though it sounded more of a question, and she had tried not to let her voice break as more memories of Fred came back.

"Alright."

"Thanks," Ginny replied as she tried to blink back tears that reappeared all the sudden. "Can we just… can we just forget about everything for a moment, and just be _us_, _together_?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Harry breathed.

She smiled tremulously. "You're all wet, now."

"Well, it is raining," he quipped. "Besides, I could say the same to you. So… why were you out here?"

"I didn't want to go back in, not after… _you know_. It started raining, and I just felt like going out in it, like I did when I was a little girl…"

_Little seven-year old Ginny Weasley peeked out the window in the Burrow. The sky outside which had been sunny earlier, was now grey as a rainstorm moved in, which was common, during these late summer months._

_Ginny had always loved the rain, for some inexplicable reason. Just something about it, it made her feel so free. She felt her heart speed up as the rain finally started to fall. It started out slowly but not before long, it was pounding loudly against the windows, just as her heart was against her ribs. Watching the rain always got her so excited, and she got the now familiar longing to go outside and run, jump, spin, and laugh in the downpour._

_Quickly making up her mind, she ran to the kitchen. Looking inside, she noted with a small smile that her mum was busy making supper. She would never know Ginny had left for a little while. Turning, she ran back to the living room, and very quietly opened the front door. She had long since mastered opening, and closing doors quietly, along with sneaking around the house, and skipping the creaky stairs on the staircase, because she often snuck out at midnight to fly her brother's brooms without anyone knowing._

_Her brothers were all upstairs in their various rooms, they had come in from playing outside when they saw the grey clouds signalling rain, and her dad was at work. No one would notice her being gone, after all, she wouldn't be out there long. No, the tricky part would probably be coming back in, especially without getting rainwater everywhere._

_Once she was outside, she ran straight into the yard, the wet grass scratching her bare feet. She giggled as she came to a stop only to begin spinning in wide circles, her arms held out. Her face was split in a wide grin, and her red hair spun around with her as it got heavy with rain. She finally came to a stop, and just tilted her face to the rain, squeezing shut her eyes, still laughing breathlessly. _

_Drop after drop of rain fell on her face, and she opened her mouth to catch it on her tongue. The sundress she had been wearing earlier was all wet as well, the normally light material heavy. She stood there for a few minutes more before letting her arms drop, her head fall, and her eyes open. _

_Changing tact, she grabbed the front of her dress in bunches, like a princess would do to her long, dazzling, gown. Keeping hold of her sundress in one hand, Ginny waved the other wildly as she began to prance around the yard, giggling loudly in happiness as the rain pitter-pattered on her fiery hair, and freckled arms and face. _

_She was so consumed in her playful frolic that she didn't notice the door of the Burrow opening, nor a lone red-headed figure walking out and observing her bemusedly. It wasn't until he spoke did she realize his presence. _

_"You do realize that it's raining, don't you Ickle-Ginnikins?"_

_When she first heard her brother speak, she hadn't yet figured out who exactly was speaking, and assumed it was the worst – her mum. She definitely wouldn't like Ginny outside all alone, especially not when it was raining. But, then Ginny noticed that it wasn't her mum at all, it was her brother, Fred. _

_Putting her hands on her hips, and glaring at him, she shot, "What do you want Fred? And don't call me _that_ again, or else I'll Bat Bogey you!"_

_The threat wasn't empty at all. When Ginny was younger, around five, Fred and George thought it would be good fun to take her coveted Harry Potter picture book and draw mean things all over it. In a bout of accidental magic, Ginny discovered the wonders of the Bat Bogey Hex. _

_"Gin-Gin?"_

_"Fred!"_

_Putting his hands up in mock surrender, Fred said, "Okay, okay, _Ginny_. But what _are_ you doing out here in the rain?"_

_"Where's George?" Ginny asked back, still not fully excusing Fred for calling her those names._

_"Well Gin, George is inside. Supper will be ready soon and mum wanted me to find you. She didn't want to send George out, not while his foot is still bugging him."_

_She scowled at the use of another nickname, but let it slide for then. _

_And it was true; George had hurt his foot somehow a few days before. The twins had been experimenting with _something_ in their room – they'd been doing experiments in their room that caused odd smells and bangs ever since they were her age, everyone had gotten used to it by now. _

_But something… unexpected had happened, and George's foot began to turn purple, sprout green feelers and pink polka-dots. Their mum had managed to rid George's foot of the purple colour, and green feelers, but the pink polka-dots remained and George was complaining of them being really itchy. _

_"So," Fred continued, "why are you out here in the rain?"_

_Gazing at Fred for a few moments, Ginny responded, "I've always came out when it started raining, it's just that none of you noticed. Besides, I like the rain. It's so nice, and feels good on my skin. I like it when my hair sticks to my face, and the way the wet grass tickles my feet. Why do _you_ care?" She added defensively._

_"Hey, I was just asking, no need to get tetchy."_

_She studied him for a minute before wrinkling her nose, and with a sigh, she grumbled, "Alright, I'm sorry then. Happy?"_

_"Yes. Impressive, by the way, you sneaking out all these times without mum knowing at all. Maybe you won't turn out like Percy, after all; he says he'll become a prefect in a few years, and then Head Boy, the prat," he paused for a few seconds, thinking, before continuing. "Supper will be ready soon, how do you think you'll get back inside now with everyone downstairs, especially when you're all wet?"_

_Ginny shrugged. "I dunno, I'll think of something. Besides, you're wet too!" she said, gesturing to Fred who was now just as wet as Ginny due to the still heavily falling rain._

_"True," Fred acknowledged, nodding. "Well, I'll get George and see if he can cause a distraction… maybe with Ron; it's always easy to get a rise out of him…"_

Ginny sighed as she looked up at Harry. "Whenever it rained, after that, Fred would come and see if I was out in it… When I was, sometimes he would come out with me and talk with me, or play with me, or tease me. It was some of the only times that I ever saw him without George. It would only be the two of us, and sometimes… Sometimes I think that it was only during those times that I got to know Fred as an individual, as himself, as _Fred_."

She smiled ruefully at Harry. "I've never told anyone that before."

"But you told me," Harry clarified.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Why?" he asked.

She shrugged, "I'm not sure, I guess because I can trust you. I know that you wouldn't laugh or something."

"I would never laugh at you for something like that," Harry said sincerely.

"I know that, Harry," she said, smiling kindly. "That's one of the reasons that I… well… one of the reasons why I love you."

"What?" Harry gasped, caught off guard by the conversations change.

"I love you Harry, I really do. I just never told you when we had been dating before, and then the whole War and stuff… But I do, and I always have loved you."

Harry met her brown gaze with his own emerald one. At her words, he felt the best sensation in the world, a feeling of warmth that started in his stomach spread throughout his body. Never before had anyone said that they loved him, at least not that he could remember, and he told her so.

Ginny's eyes shone with repressed tears as she heard that, and brought him closer, wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest.

"I… I love you too, Ginny," Harry replied, knowing it was true. He'd never really thought of love before, but he knew in his heart that that was what he felt for Ginny. Through everything that had happened, them dating, breaking up, kissing on his birthday, being apart for so long, him thinking of Ginny when he was hit with the Killing Curse… And he knew then, that it had been love all along.

Ginny looked up at Harry sharply when he said that. "Really?"

"Really," he confirmed.

Ginny smiled widely, and for a moment, she again forgot about everything except for her and Harry, and their love. Smiling back, Harry gently cupped her face, which was wet with raindrops, with his hand. Leaning down, he ignored the fact that they were standing in the middle of the Burrow's yard in the pouring rain, and they were both soaked through. His lips met hers in a kiss – their first kiss since Harry's birthday – that was perfect ecstasy. He could taste the rain on her lips, and feel the rain still pounding down on them.

Her lips moved against his, and her hair's sweet sent of flowers overcame the smell of the rainfall all around them. He pulled away from her, catching his breath, only to have Ginny tug him back to her mouth.

Harry was so swept away in the mind numbing pleasure of their kissing, that it wasn't until he and Ginny pulled up for air did he notice that they were both lying on the wet grass, Ginny on top of Harry.

"Ginny," Harry gasped out, his breathing still irregular, as she started to press soft, feathery kisses along his jaw line then down his neck. She gently nipped at his earlobe when her lips passed it, and when her mouth crossed his pulse point, she kissed it softly, her tongue darting out and swiping at his skin, catching stray raindrops on her lips in the process.

She smiled up at him, and was about to catch his lips in another kiss when he interrupted her. "Ginny… Gin, hold on… What about everyone else?" He asked, trying to concentrate on the question, and not on her body on top of his.

"Please Harry, can we just forget about everyone else. Like I said earlier, can we, for a moment, just be together in peace?"

Harry nodded, not really in much of a mood to argue with her anyway. She grinned again, and gently removed his rain-washed glasses from his face, placing them on the ground for then. She then captured his lips with her own; Harry gasped, and Ginny moaned lightly as the soft, sweet kiss, quickly turned passionate and fervent as their love overtook them.

The rain fell upon them as they kissed heavily, it fell between their faces, and blended in with their passion driven kisses. It dripped down their faces, falling into their mouths as their lips melted together.

When Ginny pulled back up for air, she sat up, so that her legs straddled Harry's waist. Her chocolate eyes, darkened with fervour and love, matched Harry's own dark emerald eyes, in an intense gaze of love and passion. Ginny's hands still gripped Harry's tightly, their fingers entwined. The rain shone on both of their faces, and they were both breathing deeply, lips red and puffy.

"I think that I should get you out of this soaking wet shirt," Ginny said, still somewhat breathless.

Harry's heart pounded as she slowly, one at a time, unbuttoned his shirt. When she did, she pulled the shirt apart, revealing his chest, wet from rain that soaked through his shirt. He felt his stomach flip-flop, and his heart beat even harder as she softly raked her fingernails up and down his chest. He moaned at the pleasure, and the feeling of his whole body tingling by her touch.

Raindrops fell onto his uncovered stomach, as Ginny continued to feel his chest, somewhat scarred by the War. Harry's hands drifted from Ginny's hips up to her shirt, where he softly fingered the hem of her black blouse. Looking into her eyes, and seeing her unspoken approval, he gently unbuttoned the bottom button.

Her pale, creamy skin was a stark contrast to the black shirt she wore, and was, like the rest of her skin, dotted with freckles. It was also speckled, like both of them, with fallen raindrops. He gently felt her skin, marvelling at how soft her stomach was. Ginny moaned, her hands now flat on Harry's chest, as Harry softly circled her belly button, and her skin prickled pleasantly. Harry, seeing the look of bliss on her face, moaned as well.

After a moment, Ginny leaned down, so her face was just above Harry's. Her hair, completely saturated with the rain water, dripped. The tips of her hair brushed against Harry's face, adding more droplets of water to the raindrops already there, and more falling.

Her face held that blazing look of hers as she kissed him softly. The kiss was reminiscent of their first ever kiss together, gentle, and chaste.

She pulled away so they were no longer kissing, and their lips barely touched. They both spoke at the same time, their lips moving against each other in unity.

"_I love you_."

The three words were whispered, by them both, just barely an echo. Shivers ran down both of their spines, and neither said anything, nor made any indication of movement. They were held there like that, almost as if frozen in time. And for a moment, there was no one else, only Harry, Ginny, and their love. For a moment, nothing horrible, like war, and pain, and death had ever happened. For a moment, it was only them, together, and that was all they needed. For a moment, that was enough.

**Finite**

A/N: That's it! Now, all you have to do is review!! Please do. :)


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